1 The origins of ESP
We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for
existence.
(Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species)
As with most developments in human activity, ESP was not a planned
and coherent movement, but rather a phenomenon that grew out of a
number of converging trends. These trends have operated in a variety
of ways around the world, but we can identify three main reasons
common to the emergence of all ESP.
1 The demands of a Brave New World
The end of the Second World War in 1945 heralded an age of enormous
and unprecedented expansion in scientific, technical and economic
activity on an international scale. This expansion created a world unified
and dominated by two forces - technology and commerce - which in
their relentless progress soon generated a demand for an international
language. For various reasons, most notably the economic power of the
United States in the post-war world, this role fell to English.
The effect was to create a whole new mass of people wanting to learn
English, not for the pleasure or prestige of knowing the language, but
because English was the key to the international currencies of technology
and commerce. Previously the reasons for learning English (or any other
language) had not been well defined. A knowledge of a foreign language
had been generally regarded as a sign of a well-rounded education, but
few had really questioned why it was necessary. Learning a language
was, so to speak, its own justification. But as English became the
accepted international language of technology and commerce, it created
a new generation of learners who knew specifically why they were
learning a language — businessmen and -women who wanted to sell their
products, mechanics who had to read instruction manuals, doctors who
needed to keep up with developments in their field and a whole range of
students whose course of study included textbooks and journals only
available in English. All these and many others needed English and, most
importantly, they knew why they needed it.
Downloaded from [Link] The University of British Columbia Library, on 23 Apr 2018 at 09:49:33, subject to the
Cambridge Core terms of use, available at [Link] [Link]
The origins of ESP
This development was accelerated by the Oil Crises of the early 1970s,
which resulted in a massive flow of funds and Western expertise into
the oil-rich countries. English suddenly became big business and
commercial pressures began to exert an influence. Time and money
constraints created a need for cost-effective courses with clearly defined
goals.
The general effect of all this development was to exert pressure on
the language teaching profession to deliver the required goods. Whereas
English had previously decided its own destiny, it now became subject
to the wishes, needs and demands of people other than language
teachers. English had become accountable to the scrutiny of the wider
world and the traditional leisurely and purpose-free stroll through the
landscape of the English language seemed no longer appropriate in the
harsher realities of the market place.
2 A revolution in linguistics
At the same time as the demand was growing for English courses tailored
to specific needs, influential new ideas began to emerge in the study of
language. Traditionally the aim of linguistics had been to describe the
rules of English usage, that is, the grammar. However the new studies
shifted attention away from defining the formal features of language
usage to discovering the ways in which language is actually used in real
communication (Widdowson, 1978). One finding of this research was
that the language we speak and write varies considerably, and in a
number of different ways, from one context to another. In English
language teaching this gave rise to the view that there are important
differences between, say, the English of commerce and that of engineering.
These ideas married up naturally with the development of English
courses for specific groups of learners. The idea was simple: if language
varies from one situation of use to another, it should be possible to
determine the features of specific situations and then make these features
the basis of the learners' course.
Swales (1985) presents an article by C. L. Barber on the nature of
Scientific English which was published as early as 1962. But it was the
late 1960s and early 1970s which saw the greatest expansion of research
into the nature of particular varieties of English - for example, descrip-
tions of written scientific and technical English by Ewer and Latorre
(1969), Swales (1971), Selinker and Trimble (1976) and others. Most of
the work at this time was in the area of English for Science and
Technology (EST) and for a time ESP and EST were regarded as almost
synonymous. But there were studies in other fields too, such as the
Downloaded from [Link] The University of British Columbia Library, on 23 Apr 2018 at 09:49:33, subject to the
Cambridge Core terms of use, available at [Link] [Link]
What is ESP?
analysis of doctor-patient communication by Candlin, Bruton and
Leather (1976).
In short, the view gained ground that the English needed by a
particular group of learners could be identified by analysing the
linguistic characteristics of their specialist area of work or study. 'Tell
me what you need English for and I will tell you the English that you
need' became the guiding principle of ESP.
3 Focus on the learner
New developments in educational psychology also contributed to the
rise of ESP, by emphasising the central importance of the learners and
their attitudes to learning (e.g. Rodgers, 1969). Learners were seen to
have different needs and interests, which would have an important
influence on their motivation to learn and therefore on the effectiveness
of their learning. This lent support to the development of courses in
which 'relevance' to the learners' needs and interests was paramount.
The standard way of achieving this was to take texts from the learners'
specialist area - texts about Biology for Biology students etc. The
assumption underlying this approach was that the clear relevance of the
English course to their needs would improve the learners' motivation
and thereby make learning better and faster.
The growth of ESP, then, was brought about by a combination of three
important factors: the expansion of demand for English to suit particular
needs and developments in the fields of linguistics and educational
psychology. All three factors seemed to point towards the need for
increased specialisation in language learning.
Tasks
1 Why was ESP introduced in your country or teaching institution?
What kinds of ESP are taught ?
2 'Tell me what you need English for and I will tell you the English
that you need' (p. 8). How justifiable do you think this claim is for
ESP?
3 'The clear relevance of the English course to their needs would
improve the learners' motivation and thereby make learning better
and faster' (p. 8).
a) Give three ways in which ' relevance' can be achieved.
b) In what ways can motivation affect language learning ?
Downloaded from [Link] The University of British Columbia Library, on 23 Apr 2018 at 09:49:33, subject to the
Cambridge Core terms of use, available at [Link] [Link]